Environmental Photographer of the Year 2019: the incredibly moving images recognised by the prize

The winning photos portray plastic pollution, the effects of flood damage and desperate measures to protect wildlife

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  'Trash' by Sebnem Coskun (Turkey, Istanbul): Underwater cleaning in the Bosphorus as part of the Zero Waste Blue project. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Water Scarcity' by Frederick Dharshie (Kakamega, Kenya): A young boy drinking dirty water due to lack of water points in the area due to deforestation thus this leading to health risks to the boy. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Invisible' by Valerie Leonard (Sisdol, Nepal): In the Sisdol landfill in Nepal waste pickers rummage through garbage all day long looking for materials or valuables to sell. This temporary landfill located near Kathmandu has been in operation since 2005. Today it is running out of its capacity. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Tuvalu Beneath the Rising Tide' by Sean Gallagher (Tuvalu): Fallen trees in the shallows of Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu. Erosion of land is an problem for coral atoll nations, as sea levels rise and increased threats from storm surges and extreme weather events occur, the land of Tuvalu will increasingly become fragile and prone to erosion. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Sleep Fatigue' by Amdad Hossain (Dhaka, Bangladesh): A woman sleeps on a dirty riverbank in Dhaka. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Hightide Enters Home' by S L Shanth Kumar (Mumbai, India). Victims of climate change, a huge wave lashes at a shanty throwing a fisherman out of his home in Bandra, in the western suburbs of Mumbai. He is pulled in by the strong currents but was rescued by fellow fishermen before the sea could have swallowed him. The reclaimed city of Mumbai is facing the risk of coastal flooding, a fallout of the climate change. The city's land and sea temperatures have been rising causing an corresponding impact on the sea level. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Desperate Measures' by Neville Kgaugelo Ngomane (Limpopo, South Africa): A last ditch attempt to keep rhinos safe from poaching. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Polluted New Year' by Eliud Gil Samaniego (Mexicali, Baja California): On January 1, 2018 Mexicali was one of the most contaminated cities in the world due to fireworks, climate change, location, industry and cars. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Lungs of the Earth' by Ian Wade (Somerset, United Kingdom): Photographing trees at night with a long shutter speed and four LED spotlights isn't easy, the smallest amount of wind will blur the canopy. It took the photographer five nights to capture this image. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'The Plastic Quarry' by Aragon Renuncio Antonio (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa): A boy plays with a plastic bag. About 380 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide each year. Production increased exponentially from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015. Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Sweet Dreams' by Aragon Renuncio Antonio Burkina Faso, West Africa): A girl sleeps on a desk inside her schoolroom. Extreme rains have tripled in the Sahel in the last 35 years due to global warming. Climate change has caused 70 episodes of torrential rains in the last decade although the region suffers severe episodes of drought. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Remains of the Forest' by J Henry Fair (Niederzier, Germany): Hambach Forest was nearly 12,000 years old when it was bought by a power company to dig for the brown coal buried underneath. The ancient forest was once the size of Manhattan; now only 10 per cent of it remains. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Sewing Net' by Tran Tuan Viet (Phu Yen, Vietnam): As fish stocks decrease fishing methods become increasingly extreme. Destructive fishing with small-hole nets devastate the marine environment. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

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  'Daily Labor' by M Yousuf Tushar (Dhaka, Bangladesh): Thousands of poor people go to Bangladesh's capital city Dhaka to find work every year. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

A photography prize which recognises the devastating effects of climate change has announced its winners this week. The winning images portray everything from small children drinking drinking dirty water, risking cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and other water-born tropical diseases; to photos of flood damage, the dehorning of rhinos and people asleep surrounded by rubbish on riverbanks.

Scroll through the gallery above to see all of the winning images. 

The prize was organised by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), with the winners announced alongside the UN climate summit in New York.

“[The photographs highlight] the impacts being wrought on our planet by its most dominant species,” organisers explain. “The competition also celebrates humanity’s innate ability to survive and innovate, lending hope to us all that we can overcome challenges to live sustainably.”

Hightide Enters Home by SL Shanth Kumar. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

Street photographer, S L Shanth Kumar, won the Environmental Photographer of the Year award.

His image, Hightide Enters Home, portrays a man swept away by floodwaters in Mumbai, India, surrounded by battered but colourful shanty buildings.

"It came as a surprise [but I am] extremely delighted to share that I have been awarded the CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2019 [award]," Kumar wrote on Instagram. "I'm overwhelmed, not just by the award, but to initiate a discussion for a fundamental problem faced by my city."